Wichita eagle., 1887-11-24

the degree OF mechanical skin necessary
for making copy of the picture before
them, or rather that part of it which is
given them TO duplicate, show remarka-
BILE facility in accomplishing their task.
In some Of the workshops the wells are
covered with strips of canvas, upon which
the copyists are busily at work. One
paints the sky and the distant effects; an
other follows with the foreground; an
other paints the figures, and still another
finishes the picture. The work is done
with great rapidity but the result, as
might be expected, is not pleasing to an
artistic eye Yet the facility attained by
constant practice is such that the rude
copies Of landscape thus produced bear a
sufficient resemblance to the original to
give them market value as pictures.
One of the largest manufactures of
cheap paintings in this country is in New
York. A three story building is devoted
to the business and when the demand
was at its height, q few years ago, nearly
1000 pictures week were turned out.
Some OF the processes employed are Pc
culiar TO these manufacturers, and the
upper story, which is the "studio,' or
workshop, is carefully guarded against in
trusion. The doors are kept locked, and
no one except those employed in the es-
tablshment is allowed to enter.
WORK OF THE STUDIO"
The first step in the production Of the
brilliant landscape in gilt frame which
is to be the subject of the auctioneer or
the picture peddler is the preparation Of
the canvas. This is done by means Of O.
machine which coats a long strip of cot
ton cloth with a mixture of glue and
whiting and gives to it something OF the
f1rmness and appearance Of canvas. The
cloth is then thoroughly dried and is then
ready for the stretcher or inner frame.
The stretchers are produced by an ingeni-
Gus machine, which shapes, joins and
fastens them with great rapidity, and BY a
third machine, which is tended By small
boy Of artistic prociivities, the cloth is
quickly faAened upon the stretcher and
made ready for the coming landscape.
Next comes the work Of the studio"
There one 1inds line of girls, their dresses
splashed with paint, and their general ap-
pearance in other respects quite IL con-
trast with the young women at the Art
Students league or the ideal woman art
ist in well appointed studio. On the
walls, within easy reach, hang stencils Of
various patterns which the girls have
learned TO use with great rapidity.
The process employed is similar to what
is known as Theorem painting, and also
as Poonah or Oriental painting. By the
use of q kind of stencil the outlines and
principal figures in the landscape are one
after another put upon the cloth, and the
picture then passes into the hands of q
more advanced painter for completion.
A few s}dllful touches with her brush
supply the deficiencies left by the use Of
the stencil, and after q plentiful supply
OF varnish and a suitable exposure in the
drying room, the picture is ready for
market. The frames are made by ma
chinery in the story below the "studio"
They are much thinner than they appear
to BE, but, although SO unsubstantial, are
quite ornamental in design, and after
being covered with metallic preparation
known to the trade as Dutch metar' or
Dutch gilt" which closely resembles
gold leaf bat has not particle of gold in
its composition, they are dazzling enough
to satisfy the most exacting purchaser.
So it will be seen that in these genuine
oil paintings" the oil which is used is
about the only thing to justify the term.
Little else is genuine. The canvas is
cotton cloth, smeared with glue and whit
ing; the frame apparently so substantial,
is mere shell and the shining gliding
has no gold about ii. Yet, like other
shams, the sham oil painting has found
great many admirers. York Mail
and Express.